North East firm Hadrian Healthcare has returned to invest in the luxury care home market, two years after selling a number of properties in a record-breaking deal.
Ian Watson, founder and chairman of the Gateshead-based company, set a new benchmark in care home deals in July 2019, when he sold five homes across County Durham and Yorkshire for more than £100m to a fund managed by insurance giant Aviva.
The company’s Manor House brand had attracted attention from buyers in the industry for offering exceptional healthcare for older people alongside service levels usually found in five star hotels, including hydrotherapy pools, bistro cafes and restaurants, cinemas, hair and beauty salons, in-house chefs and chauffeurs.
The deal, completed after more than 12 months of talks, represented the highest rate ever paid per bed and was also the fourth buyout Mr Watson has completed over 16 years, with the deals’ value totalling more than £230m.
Now two years later – and having maintained the Hadrian Healthcare name – he has revealed how the team has been utilising liquidity from the deal to take its offering into new areas in Yorkshire.
Around 170 jobs will created across two homes, one in Skipton, North Yorkshire, and one in Roundhay, Leeds.
In Skipton, the company is bringing forward a new concept called The Mill House, a more relaxed concept with a focus on urban design.
Work is already under way at the 2.5-acre site alongside Skipton canal, which will come complete with its own canal boat.
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Computer generated images show how the home, which will have accommodation for 92 residents, will have its own dining and bar area, and a rooftop garden with views across the town.
Being built at a cost of £15m and set to open next summer, The Mill House at Skipton will have a range of accommodation including independent living suites, small cottages, ground floor suites with private front doors and gardens and specialist dementia care.
A second, under the Manor House brand, is also planned for the Roundhay area of Leeds, where £12m is being invested into a home for 65 residents. Around 70 jobs will be created in Leeds and 100 in Skipton.
Mr Watson said: “Hadrian healthcare is very much alive and kicking as a consequence of creating some liquidity.
“Skipton has always been on our radar. It’s a lovely town and the area has no quality care and when areas like that stand out you can’t leave them alone.
“We’ve got our own long boat which is being fully adapted for our residents. The idea is that you will be able to step out of the café and straight onto the boat, taking trips around the canals of Skipton in nice weather.
“Being able to do something completely new is exciting and when we saw the canal we saw an opportunity. The area used to be quite a commercial site, so we are very excited by the idea of connecting the water to the home.”
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Subject to planning approval, work will start on the Roundhay Manor House in the autumn but a recruitment drive to bring in staff trained at the top level in care and hospitality, for both homes, is already under way.
Mr Watson said the company also has its sights on other areas of the North, where demand for luxury residential care is high.